


Day Ten

by dizzy



Series: Crisscolfer Advent 2014 [10]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: M/M, crisscolfer advent 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-01 00:23:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2752637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Prompt:</b> Chris and Darren meet at a concert (Freelance Whales maybe). Chris was dragged there by a friend and doesn’t particularly love the music, but doesn’t hate it. His friend, too busy watching the opening band, sends Chris to the FW merch table to buy him/her a shirt. Who’s working the merch table? None other than Darren Criss. They spend pretty much the whole concert together talking, maybe even hang out afterwards. (AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day Ten

It’s not that the band is bad, it’s just that… Chris isn’t the concert type. Once in a while, if it’s a band he really loves and he’s just really feeling the urge to shake his limbs loose a little, he can handle it. But those times are few and far between, and tonight is not one of them. 

He’s glad Lauren’s having fun, but he would so much rather have spent their weekend together before she goes back home to Chicago just hanging out and watching bad reality tv. He’s trying not to be too resentful of the fact that instead he’s spending their next to last night together watching her rock out to a band and wishing he’d brought earplugs. 

Three numbers into the opening act, she takes pity on him. She leans in close and shouts, “Go buy me a t-shirt and then get yourself a drink!” 

Chris barely hears it over the sound of the music, but a weird hybrid of telephone and charades later he gets the point. She gives him a twenty and a kiss on the cheek and he backs away from the growing throng of people with a sense of sheer relief. 

The merch table is outside the venue. Chris vaguely remembers passing it on their way inside, when it was just a table with boxes stack on it. Once the ringing in his ears has faded, he heads in that direction. It’s not hard to find again; there are a few teenage girls giggling in a semicircle around the sole guy running it. 

He rolls his eyes, because yeah, this isn’t exactly a shocking situation. The guy is halfway decent looking, sort of a charming frenetic energy about him, and the girls are attractive and already shedding layers of outerwear in hopes of getting his attention. Chris is glad he’s in no hurry to get back inside, because he doubts this guy will even notice he’s alive. 

Except that… he does. 

The guy glances over at him and if anything, his smile actually grows. He says something to the girls, who all simper and sigh before retreating. One of them passes the guy something that Chris would lay odds on being a phone number. 

But then they’re gone, and the guy is turning to him. “I’m Darren. You looking for the Freelance Whales stuff?” 

“Yeah, for my friend,” Chris says. “She’s a fan, she wanted a t-shirt.” 

“She was awesome tastes,” Darren says, leaning in like he’s telling Chris something confidential. “Plus isn’t this merch badass? My friend Corey designed it.” 

“Oh, are you in the band?” Chris asks, a little more willing to go with the conversation since he’s getting what are at the very least friendly vibes. 

“No, my brother!” Darren asks, and he launches into an energetic explanation of how his brother Chuck got started making music and how amazing he is. 

He’s cuter than Chris thought to begin with, too. Something about how happy he is, it just tips him right over from mildly attractive to stomach-flutteringly adorable. Maybe Darren is just a friendly kind of guy, but okay, if Chris squanders a little while enjoying eye candy who isn’t repulsed by his existence he’ll take it. 

“So your friend, she turn you on to them?” Darren asks, endearingly sincere in a way that Chris finds he can’t lie to. 

“No,” Chris admits. “It’s not them, it’s just - they’re not my style of music.” 

Darren doesn’t seem offended, thankfully. He just leans forward, elbows on the table, and asks, “What _is_ your kind of music, then?” 

Chris starts to name off bands and musicians, and Darren impresses him by interrupting with random facts about almost every one, or sometimes just joining in with particular albums or tracks of theirs he likes. 

The few minutes Chris had hoped to kill before having to go back in stretches into ten, then twenty, and he and Darren have moved on from talking about music to talking about their favorite concerts they’ve ever been to and musical theater and Chris is… he’s having fun, a lot more fun than he would be inside. 

Around the time the opening act must be finishing up there’s a fresh wave of people that approach, but Darren grabs Chris’s wrist. “Hang out here for a sec, okay?” 

Chris obediently drops back, telling himself not to read too much into it. Darren sells a few shirts and a couple vinyls, and Chris is pleased to note he doesn’t spend nearly as much time connecting with any of those people - even the girl from before that came back around, buying a three dollar bumper sticker this time before retreating again. 

He spots Lauren ducking outside for a second and waves her over. She’s sweaty and mussed and almost glowing with how much she’s in the concert groove. “Hey! Had to answer a call from work. You coming in?” 

Chris glances over at Darren. 

Lauren follows his gaze, and then smirks. “Enough said. Well, I’m gonna go, I promised a guy a beer if he let me slip back in up front. Perks of being a half-pint!” 

Chris laughs. “Have fun.” 

When the table is empty of potential buyer, Darren makes beeline straight for Chris again. “You waited!” 

“You asked me to,” Chris says. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” Darren grins at him. “So that was your friend, the little blonde?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah, that’s Lauren,” Chris says. 

“Would you guys wanna like, come hang with us afterward?” Darren asks. “The guys are always ravenous when they’re done with a show so we usually hit up a Denny’s or whatever’s nearby.” 

“She’d probably love that,” Chris says, sighing to himself on the inside. Of course he likes the idea of hanging out with Darren more… and of course Darren just wants to get to know Lauren. “She’s got a boyfriend, though.” 

“So?” Darren shrugs. He pushes back from the table. “I mean, I’m sure she’s cool, but it’s you I want to get to know better, not her.” 

“Oh…” Chris’s stomach flips pleasantly. “That sounds good, then.” 

“I have to sell for a few minutes after the show and then get this packed up. I’m totally the grunt, sorry. The band is cool, they help at least, when they’re done talking to people.” Darren grabs Chris’s hand and scrawls a number on it in Sharpie. “So if you don’t see me, just give me a call or text.” 

“Sure,” Chris says smiling. “I mean, I will.” 

They stand there for an awkward but not unpleasant moment, just smiling at each other. “Okay, then,” Darren finally says. “I’ll see you soon.” 

Chris still hesitates. He should walk away, but. “Uh, I really don’t want to go back in there.” 

Darren tips his head back and laughs. “Well, then come on back here, you can help me peddle the wares.” 

Chris ducks around behind the table, grinning.

**Author's Note:**

> [reblog on tumblr](http://alittledizzy.tumblr.com/post/104894930730/crisscolfer-fic-a-day-advent-2014-day-ten)


End file.
